After tracking down Señor Garcia in 2005, at a trailer park in Delano he was enlisted to come to Terry and Jim Scott’s Sand Flea Studios in Hermosa Beach, California to record his music for LeRoy Chatfield’s Farm Worker Documentation Project. The words in the selections below are written stanza by stanza in Spanish first followed by the English translation and with a brief comment before each song.

In the early ‘70s it was my good fortune to hear Sr. Garcia play and sing his music for the first time. It was not at a movement march or rally but at private weekend backyard get-togethers in Delano with current and former union staff. i.e. Helen Chavez, Petra Ovalle, Carmen Serda, Esther Uranday, and Linda Chavez to name a few. As we waited for the slow roasting chicken to cook he would entertain us with old traditional Mexican ballads, corridos, and movement songs. The wonderful music lasted into the night; the sweet melodies becoming an extension of Sr. Garcia’s gentle personality and large heart. Today, listening to his music, it is not only a pleasure to think back on those fond memories of times shared with dear friends, but to learn that the history of the farm worker movement has been preserved in song by someone who was witness to the events of the time. Sr. Garcia’s admiration and loyalty to Cesar Chavez and his farm worker movement is evident in his original compositions.

Sr, Francisco (Pancho) Garcia was a lettuce farm worker who walked out on strike in 1970 from D’Arrigo Farms in Salinas. A short time later he volunteered for assignment to New York City when a national boycott of lettuce was declared by the UFW. One year later he returned to La Paz, the union headquarters in Keene, California, where he worked for the Construction Department. He was reassigned to the Forty Acres in Delano, the former home base of the union, as part of the construction crew that built the Agbayani Village, retirement housing for Filipino union members. In 1973, the union once again found itself in a major strike when the grape contracts expired in Delano. Pancho returned to the fields to organize workers. The strike picket lines were eventually called-off because of the violence against farm workers. Pancho settled in Delano alternately working there and at La Paz until he retired in 1983. He has continuously remained a tireless supporter of the UFW. –Abby F. Rivera

UFW Salinas Lettuce Strike 1970 / Photo by Hub Segur

Song #1: Ballad of the National Lettuce Boycott/Corrido del Boicoteo de Lechuga

In this song written by Francisco Garcia, he recounts the story of the 1970 lettuce strike in Salinas, California where the growers have had a history of exploiting and humiliating workers and of buying-off politicians who pass laws that favor the rich.

In the Salinas Valley
Where the poor has been exploited
It is said it is the millionaires
Who have degraded the farm workers.
With money rightfully belonging to the poor
They have even bought the powers-that-be

Long-live the farm worker’s union
Long-live the revolution
The national boycott
Throughout the entire land

Song #2: Marcha En Salinas/ March In Salinas

This song written by Francisco Garcia is about the Salinas Lettuce Strike of 1970. Cesar Chavez came to organize workers immediately after the Grape Strike ended in Delano. Cesar was jailed in Salinas for the strike activity. Hundreds of workers joined in the strike and the first lettuce contract signed was with Inter Harvest. This song presents a panoramic picture that recalls some of the moments of that historic event.

And to the song of We Shall Overcome with
Mighty flags fluttering in the wind
All arrive at the same time
From all four directions
Salinas stood amazed
At this great movement.

Cesar Chavez & The Black Eagle / Photo by Jon Lewis 1966

Song #3: The Black Eagle/El Aguila Negra

In this song written by Francisco Garcia, he pays tribute to the black eagle which is the symbol found in the center of the farm worker union flag. The flag was designed by Manuel Chavez, Cesar’s cousin. This allegorical song portrays the movement as an eagle swooping down demanding that exploited workers in the Salinas strike be released from the clutches of the grower, labor contractors, and crew bosses. It makes mention of the important role women played in the movement and of Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the UFW. He mentions New York most likely because of his sweet memories of working in the lettuce boycott there.

The black eagle has arrived
Hawks open your claws
We’ve been held captive in your clutches
You have to release us
Don’t be afraid contractors, crew bosses and ranchers
We seek what is just but will not harm you.

In the Salinas Valley
The valley of suffering,
It’ was enough that they threatened us
But they also wanted to instill fear,
That bunch without conscience.
They assaulted with violence
And we had to fight back
Non-violently to win

Long-live the women
Who keep themselves active.
That, and also strongly supportive.
It’s the genuine truth
And within that group, our leader.
Long-live Dolores Huerta
Because always with forcefulness
Will fight without stopping

Long-live the black eagle
Long-live the cause
Long-live our union
Our leader Cesar Chavez
May his leadership endure
Long-live the farm worker movement
In California and in New York

Song #4: Corrido, Yo Soy Chicano/Ballad: I Am Chicano

In this song written by Francisco Garcia, he sings about his Mexican heritage and the journey of sacrifice made by many who came to the United States. It is interesting to note that farm workers drew great strength and pride by comparing their struggle in the fields with their history of oppression and struggle for freedom in Mexico from foreign invaders.

I am Chicano
That’s what they call me
But Mexican by age-old tradition
Throughout the Rio Bravo
And the Colorado
The Rio Bravo was showered
With our blood

Song # 5: Una canción de la Revolución Mexicana (sin título)/Untitled song about the Mexican Revolution

This is not one of his own compositions but according to Francisco Garcia he sings this song because he has run out of other movement songs to sing during the taping. This ballad is about a poor Mexican Indian who joins the Mexican Revolution to change the oppressive circumstances he and those before him have endured under Spanish rule. It is easy to understand why farm workers would draw parallels about that past struggle in history to change their condition and their own present struggle.

This song was written by Luis Valdez. It was performed and taught to workers by the Teatro Campesino the union’s musical theater group. The song is about the 1965 Delano Grape Strike. It pokes fun at the growers but also at the scabs brought in as strike breakers. In a newer rendition of this old standard, Francisco Garcia identifies the scabs as being brought in from Mexico and Texas. This song quickly became a favorite of grape strikers because it had an encouraging message of resolve. It is also one of the first songs written that had a direct quote by Cesar Chavez familiar to the farm workers on strike at the time. The strike with Delano area grape growers lasted five years.

All the way to Mexico the happy news has been transported that Delano is different
The people are in battle with the growers and their flunkies who abused and crushed the workers
And since we are all bothers, we share our happiness with all farm workers.
Long-live the revolution! Long-live our Association! Long-live the general strike!

The lil’ growers tell us that work is done with a great number of scabs
And from Nuevo Leon (Mexico) and Texas they shamefully have brought
Hungry farm workers who sell-out for measly beans
But workers with nerve dig their heels in and bravely take a stance while the grapes turn into raisins
Long live the revolution! Long live our Association! Long live the general strike!

The lil’ growers know full-well that our brothers will not sell-out for a high price or on the cheap
And as it’s well-known that to care for our families’ higher wages is what is really needed
As Cesar Chavez tells us, “Enough brothers and sisters, we will win this strike!”
Down with the labor contractors! Up with our strikers! Wipeout all the dirty scabs!

Lalo Guerrero was a professional singer and a good friend of Cesar Chavez. His is the first recording of the Delano Grape Strike of 1965 to hit the airwaves in Delano. Farm workers were extremely excited about the attention it received. It tells the story of the first years of the 1965 grape strike. Included in the lyrics is the visit by Senator George Murphy of California and Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York who took part in the U.S. Senate Subcommittee labor hearings held in Delano in 1966, which lead to Senator Robert Kennedy’s later public support of the grape strike. At the hearings the senators learned that illegal practices by growers and by law enforcement who aided them infringed the civil rights of farm workers. The song recording was a truly proud moment for the grape strikers who were certain more people now would learn about their plight and help them.

“Why do we go out on strike?
It’s not to amaze anybody.
That’s what a certain man would say,
Cesar Chavez is his name,
We only ask for what’s fair
And for human dignity.”

Estado de California
En el valle San Joaquin
Llamó tanto la atención
Este famoso motín
Que vinieron senadores
A ver si le hallaban fín.
In the state of California
In the San Joaquin Valley
This famous struggle
Drew so much attention
That senators came
To try and find a resolution.

Primary source accounts: photographs, oral histories, videos, essays and historical documents from the United Farm Worker Delano Grape Strikers and the UFW Volunteers who worked with Cesar Chavez to build his farmworker movement.

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